Be Prepared, Not Afraid, New Security Agency Urges U.S.

By DAVID STOUT

Published: February 19, 2003

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 — The Department of Homeland Security began an intensive effort today to condition Americans mentally and physically for possible attack, issuing detailed advice on how to prepare for a terrorist assault.

The secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, announced the campaign in Cincinnati, where he urged Americans to be alert without panicking and not to surrender to a sense of fatalism.

The secretary said that general preparedness would do more than speed recovery from an attack. He said it could even prevent one. "Terror forces us to make a choice," he said. "We can be afraid or we can be ready."

Called the Ready Campaign, the drive announced today seemed at first glance to be an exhaustive compilation of pointers that Mr. Ridge's department has been setting out for weeks, highlighted by new phone numbers and Web sites.

In addition, Mr. Ridge was clearly trying to strike a balance. "Stash away the duct tape," he said, prompting laughter from the audience. "Don't use it, stash it away, and that pre-measured plastic sheeting for future — and I emphasize future — use."

Mr. Ridge was acknowledging that one bit of recent advice on how to deal with a biological or chemical attack might have been set out a bit too emphatically, or in any event might have prompted inappropriate fears among some Americans. Many hardware stores have reported runs on duct tape and plastic sheeting.

Mr. Ridge invoked images of events that Americans were familiar with long before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Think about it," he said. "Tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, snowstorms — families prepare, communities prepare as a matter of routine for those events. So let's embrace the same attitude and the same approach and take some simple steps to protect ourselves and our families against a possible terrorist attack."

Details of the Homeland Security agency's recommendations are available on a department Web site, www.ready.gov. A special phone line (1-800-BE-READY) has been set up for obtaining free brochures.

Much of the advice, like preparing an emergency supply kit with enough food and water for three days and having a family communication plan, has become familiar, but Mr. Ridge clearly thinks it bears repeating.

"An emergency is not the time to plan, it's the time to react," he said. "So be informed."

Fears of a possible terror attack have been heightened in recent weeks as the country has been put on a "high alert" status, the orange, second-ranked category on Mr. Ridge's five-tiered color-coded warning system. The high alert was prompted by the detection of intensive communications among suspected terrorists, leading American intelligence experts to conclude that planning for another attack might be well under way.

Some Capitol Hill Democrats have accused the Bush administration of not being willing to spend enough on homeland security. But Mr. Ridge asserted that even though the country remained in danger, security was tighter now than it was not many months ago.

"Let me be very clear," he said "Taking charge of your own safety does not mean that you're charging into this fight alone. In addition to our Ready Campaign, the Department of Homeland Security stands ready to deter and detect terrorism 24 hours a day."

Perhaps recalling the sunny morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists achieved complete surprise in hijacking four airliners, destroying the World Trade Center and inflicting heavy damage on the Pentagon, Mr. Ridge urged Americans to "avoid a sense of fatalism, the feeling that the risk is just too great, too catastrophic, and we can't do anything about it."